The Ties of Friendship
by Eternal Princess
Summary: What is friendship? And what exactly is it that has the power to bind two souls together as friends? In the faraway kingdom of Tai; two children are about to find out...


_Authors Note: Ok! This is the very first fanfic I have ever had enough courage to post online... Hope everyone enjoys it! __By the way I don't think I have to mention that I **obviously** do not own "The Twelve Kingdoms" or any of its characters etc. But in reading this story, if you do see something that **was not **in the anime, that would most likely be mine... ;)_

**Chapter One: A Friendship is Born...**

"Get back here you stupid Hanjyuu!"

The young half-beast ran as fast as he could into the outskirts of the village; the trio of older boys not far behind. Another barrage of pebbles and small sticks stung the back of his head and shoulders, making him wince. Tears slowly streamed from his tightly shut eyes as he tried desperately to hold them in. Putting on some speed he reached a small bend in the hoveled road. Just a little further and he thought he might actually be able to ditch them. But luck failed him for a second time this day; with his eyes closed the child hanjyuu failed to see the small root jutting its way from the semi-packed dirt road. As though in slow motion he felt his small body falling and falling until after what seemed like an eternity it hit the hard, solid earth. For a moment his shocked and beaten body refused to move, and the boy agonized as he heard the triumphant footsteps of his tormentors.

"Awww, what's the matter? Wittle Beastie fall down?"

He ignored the largest boy's jibe and the snickering of his companions, as he slowly, painfully willed his frail body to move. Though he felt the few damp trickles on either side of his face where a few tears managed to escape; he at least managed to stop them for now. No matter what the bullies did or said to him he stubbornly refused to cry in front of them. He vowed never to give them the satisfaction. With a small grunt he finally managed to at least flip his body over so that he could half lay and face them instead of being face-down in the dirt. Spitting out some of the blood and dirt compiling in his mouth; he glared angrily at the pack of bullies in hopes of intimidating them into going back to the village and leaving him alone, at least for today.

Though there was nothing at all really intimidating about him; his body was much smaller than most boys his age and very frail, though he was not at all a sickly child, since the day he was plucked he had always been a strong, healthy, robust young boy. But he had learned early on that somehow when he looked into other people's eyes they almost always backed down, whether in fear or not he still wasn't sure, but today he needed it to work. It _had_ to work!

It didn't. With hungry, wolfish grins the boys surrounded him, two of the younger ones held large sticks in there hands, one of them flashed his threateningly in the boy's face laughing maniacally as he pulled it quickly back again, taunting him. The third and largest boy simply pounded his massive fists together in anticipation. Closing his eyes the young hanjyuu sat and waited for the inevitable onslaught of beatings that would soon ensue.

Suddenly there was a rush of snapping twigs and swishing leaves as something bolted out of the forest to his left, "**LEAVE HIM ALONE!"**, a voice yelled menacingly in front of him. Slowly, warily he opened his eyes and was momentarily startled to find that the owner of the mildly frightening voice was a small girl roughly about his own age if not a year or so younger. She could almost have been mistaken for a boy as she wore a lavender tunic and a slighter lighter shade of trousers. Her hair could not be seen as it was bound inside a lilac turban which was somewhat large atop her small head, giving her an almost comical appearance.

_Except_ for the long wooden sword she held menacingly in front of her.

The three older boys stared disbelievingly at the little warrior as she glared at them with smoldering green eyes. Noone moved, they were all in too much shock at the sudden appearance of this fierce rescuer. Finally The larger boy sneered, eyeing the girl briefly before turning to his comrades; "Well look who it is boys! Princess Freak!". The three of them laughed, with the initial shock wearing off they rallied again with a new self-confidence and malice.

As they started to advance the young girl raised her sword threateningly, warning them off. The two with the clubs hesitated not sure whether to heed her or not. Noticing their lack of courage their leader turned on them.

"Don't tell me you guys are afraid of that pip-sqeak and her lil' stick!"

The two glanced nervously at each other and then at their feet, unwilling to meet the older boy's angry gaze. Finally one of them spoke up, his voice weak and trembling slightly; "But Kai! Her father's Master Shilan! He's the Master of–"

"Yeah! Yeah!", the older bully interrupted him, waving his large hand as though dismissing him; "Master of some hokey ancient combat style... Please Tien! I wouldn't be scared even if that old fart were standing right here instead of this little runt!"

"You take that back! My father's the greatest warrior and swordsman the Twelve Kingdoms have ever seen!", the girl took an angry step towards them her wooden sword ready for the attack. The two boys backed up, their widened eyes watching her and their leader uneasily. The oldest boy took a surprised half-step backwards at his target's bold move; but he quickly recovered himself and leering down at her he rumbled; "I've had enough of this!"

He ran forward, his fist raised and ready to strike the insolent girl into submission; when suddenly he felt a sharp pang across his mid-section. He never saw the attack coming. In an instant two more pangs followed, once more to his stomach then again to his shoulders. Within half a second he was face down on the ground, his vision blurred, and a loud ringing in his ears. Pain wracked across his body where the girl's blows had fallen.

"Not bad for the daughter of an old fart, huh?"

The wind completely knocked out of him he couldn't speak, but only groan softly in reply as his two friends carried him hurriedly away and back to the village...

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The young hanjyuu stared bewilderedly up at his unexpected rescuer. He could barely believe what just happened! A young girl, no bigger than he was, had just taken down one of the biggest bullies in the entire village of Shi'ren! Only two nagging thoughts came to his befuddled mind; _'Who was she?' _and _'What did she want?'_.

"Can you stand up?"

Startled from these thoughts he blinked blearily up at the girl as ,smiling, she held out an eager hand to help him up. Unable to help himself, he smiled back and gratefully accepted her hand up. For several minutes they just stood and stared at each other; neither one able to come up with anything to say to the other. Finally unable to bear the silence any longer she burst out; "I'm sorry if those boys hurt you! I would have come sooner but papa doesn't like me interfering in what he calls _other people's business_, whatever that means... I saw them following you through the village and then chase you here! I'm tired of them always picking on people smaller than them! It's not right!". All this came out in a sudden hurried rush, like water from a broken dam; until finally she had to pause for breathe. He continued to stare at her, still unsure of what she was all about. He couldn't explain it, even to himself, but he somehow felt he could _trust_ her... Maybe it was because when he looked into her eyes she didn't look away, but simply gazed naively back, always with that sweet smile threatening to tear her face in half! It seemed as though she never _stopped_ smiling! _'Except when facing down a group of bullies!'_, he couldn't help but grin at the memory of the faces on the boy's faces when their ring-leader Kai went down in a mass of broken flesh. As long as he lived he'd never forget this day!

"Thanks.", he heard himself say before he could realize it. He hadn't even _thought_ of thanking her yet! His parents wouldn't have been too happy about that. He could just imagine his mother scolding him about his lack of manners! Stubbornly trying to keep his embarrassment from showing he plopped himself down on the soft grass at the side of the road, not daring to even look at the girl. Giggling she came over and sat beside him; much to his further embarrassment!

"Your welcome!", she smiled _'Gods! Did she ever **stop!**?"_, "My name's Karin. What's yours?"

"Shiro.", he replied still refusing to look at her directly; only every now and then he'd cast a surreptitious glance at her out of the corner of his eye. She was a strange looking girl, but for no particular reason he could think of. That is, she looked _normal_ enough but there was just _something_ about her that was... _different_.

"Your face!", he suddenly heard her cry in surprise, he quickly lifted a hand to touch it to see if he had morphed into his animal state without realizing it. With relief he felt the smooth skin and softened features of a normal human boy; the only thing amiss was the feel of something wet trickling down his cheek. Embarrassed that she might have seen him cry, Shiro quickly turned away from her and wiped at his face with a dirty, ragged sleeve. He was startled when he pulled it away to find it stained red. He was bleeding.

"Here let me help."

He looked up just in time to see a mass of scarlet hair, like red silk, flow freely as she unwound its cloth prison. Using her teeth she tore a piece of the rough material and bound it around his forehead, where a small gash had been the source of his blood. "There.", she sighed satisfactorily gazing at her handiwork, "That should do for now. My mommy has some herbs we can put on it back at our house. Come on, I'll take you there!", she stood up and held an eager hand out to him, her perpetual smile lighting up her face just as the waning sun lit the wave of fire that was her hair.

"Why?"

"Huh?", confused by his unexpected question and his silent refusal to follow her, Karin paused while her six-year-old mind tried to fathom it. "I guess 'cuz Daddy always says that a warrior should know how to heal as much, if not more, than he can harm."

"No. I mean why are you helping me? Don't you know what I am?", suddenly angered without reason, he forced his body to take the shape of the beast that he was. Shirking off his ragged tunic, his small body began to shake and spasm; his already long raven black hair grew and began covering his entire body, his hands and feet grew long and almost paw-like, his fingers and toes lengthening as onyx claws formed at their tips. Finally his face began to morph, where once there were the features of a human there now was the face of a black wolf, from large, pointed upright ears, glowing, golden, intelligent eyes, right down to his long, whiskered muzzle full of glistening white fangs.

Shiro stood and looked straight at the girl; at once angry at her for forcing him to show her the truth about what she had rescued in doing her "little good deed", and ashamed of himself for getting angry in the first place. After all; the only thing she did was show him a little kindness. Besides his parents, she was the first person to have ever done such a thing. And _this_ is how he repays her! By scaring her off!

He closed his eyes and looked away from the wide-eyed face of his young rescuer; unable to bare the look of fear that was undoubtedly there. _'Still. She could at least scream or something!'_, he thought annoyedly to himself, _' Anything's better than standing there with that look on her face!.'_.

Without warning she did scream, but not the type of scream Shiro was used to. Instead of a loud cry of fear; it was a piercingly sharp squeal of– _delight_???

"WOW! That is so cool! Can you do that whenever you want!? Can you turn into anything else!? Can you howl like a wolf does too!?", her barrage of rapid-fire questions surprised him nearly as much as her excited scream did. _'What was **wrong** with this girl!?'_.

"Haven't you ever seen a Hanjyuu before?"

At this accusation she sobered a little and straightening herself she glared at him in as dignified a manner as any stout six-year-old can, as she unconvincingly answered; "Of course I have!". The pair stared defiantly at each other for several moments before once again the silence between them grew to be too much. This time it was Shiro who broke it; "Well? Aren't you disgusted by this?", he gestured angrily at his bestial self.

"Uh-Uh.", she shook her head from side to side.

Surprised again by this bubbly, little warrior; Shiro couldn't help but stare silently at her in disbelief. Taking his silence as a good sign she once again broke out into an infectious smile, which spread from ear-to-ear.

"Shiro?"

"Yeah?", he managed to get out.

"What does _disgusted_ mean?"

His canine mouth dropped open at the sincerity of the question. Then unable to stop himself any longer, he burst out into a fit of childish laughter; and Karin not knowing or caring whether or not the laughter from her new found friend was directed at her or not, joined in.


End file.
